I’ve been enjoying the new baseball season, so I’ve been neglecting the posts for a few days. Oh well. It’s amazing how much better my spirits tend to be after baseball season gets going. The Yankees won their opener 3-2 but looked pretty lethargic in losing their second game. I’m worried Mussina might be nearing the end at a rapid pace. He was lobbing grapefruits all night. Alex Rodriguez hit a man-size home run and Jeter dropped in a couple of hits, but other than that the team appeared to be sleepwalking after the high-energy opening game. It lined up perfectly for a Yankees fan, our best pitcher getting the W, while Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera pitched the 8th and 9th innings respectively to get ‘08 off on a winning note.
For those of you who read this mostly to hear about whatever Southern NT thing is bugging me at a given time, I should warn you that I also plan to write some about sports. Probably more than some actually.
People are often surprised to learn that I am both a hardcore sports fan and a guy who enjoys classic literature, religious history, and the works of Van Gogh. The common stereotype of the empty-headed sports fan foaming at the mouth while his buddies set up the beer bong is pretty deeply ingrained into the minds of the masses. A lot of sports fans act like you shouldn’t be an intellectual if you are a real fan, and a lot of intellectuals think only morons watch sports. I think it speaks to the fact that people are more concerned about labels and pigeon-holing one another than they are about just being themselves.
Have you ever noticed how many Americans rail on and on about how wonderful it is to live in a free country, only to turn around and willingly surrender their freedom of thought? It seems that most people prefer not to think for themselves, turning that responsibility over to talk radio hosts, television, or worse, their preacher (pronounced praychur here in middle Georgia).
I am stunned at the number of people who explain their opinions by starting off with “well, my praychur says….” or “I heard them fellas on that there radio show say…”. We live in the land of the free, yet most Americans willingly turn over individual thought process and personality in exchange for feeling validated by someone more famous than them or being part of a group mentality. Why decide for yourself how you you should vote when your church can decide for you? Why research Masons and learn about their history and contributions to society when your church can decide for you what kind of people they are? Why listen to your heart about war and America’s place in the world when you can just get a bumper sticker like your friends’ have to let everyone know that “freedom isn’t free”. I agree with that statement, but I also marvel at how people around this area think you can’t be against this war and still support the troops.
I wish everyone of our servicemen and women could come home without a scratch on them and live fulfilling lives back here in the States. I just don’t think their bosses should have them over in Iraq. But to all the rednecks around here, I may as well be a flag-burning communist as to be against a war that has resulted in some of the worst human rights violations in history with the only tangible result being production of enemies at a faster rate than our hayseed president could ever hunt them down.
I’m old enough to remember a time when the two main political parties and the two main schools of political thought were not mutually exclusive. There were Democrats who were somewhat conservative and some Republicans who were likewise a bit liberal. Over the past decade, our country has somehow convinced itself that you have to either be a liberal Democrat or a conservative Republican. What happened to just deciding for yourself how you felt on individual issues? Socially I am very liberal but on fiscal issues I am much more conservative. This draws criticism from both sides of the political fence. How could you think for yourself and not just align yourself completely with a party’s idelogy? GASP!!
The biggest problem facing our country isn’t terrorism, global warming, high gas prices, or which celebrities are sleeping with which celebrities. I often tell my wife that our biggest problem is people wanting to share a brain, and then not even caring if the brain works. Mindless group identity is how dark years begin in countries. Think of Germany, Italy, Japan, Iraq, Korea, the former USSR. People surrendering their own thought process to go along with a leader’s, secular or religous, is the first step towards bookburnings, political witch hunts, mob violence, general apathy towards global good, zealous and aggressive feelings of national superiority.
Don’t think that things like that can’t happen here. Anything can happen anywhere.
Tags: baseball, church and state, democrat, iraq, new york yankees, republican, sports fans
